Selling IT Recruitment Business
Discussion
Morning, just had a very nice proposal fall into my lap to set up a business in a sector I know well. I have had an IT Recruitment business for 6 years ( 5 years accounts ) quite specialist not that profitable but no debt to speak of, its turned over £500-700K over the last 3-4 years gross profit circa £140-170K. Database is very strong in its area IT Security/Risk and we have exposure to a lot of markets ie not just UK. Strong PSL relationships with 5 of the top 10 accountancy practices in the UK ( including 2 0f the big 4 . ) We are always dealing with 30-40 requirements primarily perm. This would all be easily looked after by whoever took the business on. Fully functional website and we are easily located on Google etc. Good reputation ( easily demonstrated ).
Looking to sell it circa £50K who are the best people to talk to?
Looking to sell it circa £50K who are the best people to talk to?
We can pick this up privately at jostrummer01@yahoo.co.uk . Well I am not running contractors ( well 1 that makes a grand a month ) its pretty much perm so you the purchase is really one of niche knowledge and relationships rather than an existing income stream. I've said £50K after an offer of £45K no more scientific than that. The deal might also appeal to anyone with strong Middle East connections.
If I were you I'd find companies that are currently, or have recently, acquired recruitment companies.
There is a website you can subscribe to:
www.bvdep.com/
Which contains many databases. The one you're after is "Zephyr". A quick search using the keyword "recruitment" looking at the purchaser in the UK, revealed over 450 hits. Probably one in five could be relevant so there's a potential (circa) 100 companies you could approach with a summary of what you're offering.
Secondly, don't mention an asking price, simply say "I'm inviting indicative offers by the end of April" (or some such).
There is a website you can subscribe to:
www.bvdep.com/
Which contains many databases. The one you're after is "Zephyr". A quick search using the keyword "recruitment" looking at the purchaser in the UK, revealed over 450 hits. Probably one in five could be relevant so there's a potential (circa) 100 companies you could approach with a summary of what you're offering.
Secondly, don't mention an asking price, simply say "I'm inviting indicative offers by the end of April" (or some such).
rico said:
but no debt to speak of, its turned over £500-700K over the last 3-4 years gross profit circa £140-170K. jo strummer said:
Looking to sell it circa £50K who are the best people to talk to?
I would imagine its worth quite a bit more than £50k. Good luck with the sale
20% GP is aabout average for recruitment companies. I note that the OP was not mentioned. Clearly, this will be a factor in the value of the company. Also, being in the service sector I imagine the company doesn't have many assets. As such, the lion share of the value will be the "goodwill" (which is the value of a company above its net assets value. As such, the higher the goodwill the higher the (perceived) risk - and risk effects value. Ultimately it'll be worth what anyone's prepared to pay for it, which is why I suggest marketing without a price-tag.
I agree with both your points, really I am selling an IT Recruitment agency with an established presence and a lot of info and connections in its particular sector and that has historically been profitable. With IT infrastructure in place, database and image its picking up and running with it really.
jo strummer said:
Morning, just had a very nice proposal fall into my lap to set up a business in a sector I know well. I have had an IT Recruitment business for 6 years ( 5 years accounts ) quite specialist not that profitable but no debt to speak of, its turned over £500-700K over the last 3-4 years gross profit circa £140-170K. Database is very strong in its area IT Security/Risk and we have exposure to a lot of markets ie not just UK. Strong PSL relationships with 5 of the top 10 accountancy practices in the UK ( including 2 0f the big 4 . ) We are always dealing with 30-40 requirements primarily perm. This would all be easily looked after by whoever took the business on. Fully functional website and we are easily located on Google etc. Good reputation ( easily demonstrated ).
Looking to sell it circa £50K who are the best people to talk to?
being a thicky - is that gross profit £140 -£170 each year or the total for the last 3/4 years?
srebbe64 said:
If I were you I'd find companies that are currently, or have recently, acquired recruitment companies.
There is a website you can subscribe to:
www.bvdep.com/
Which contains many databases. The one you're after is "Zephyr". A quick search using the keyword "recruitment" looking at the purchaser in the UK, revealed over 450 hits. Probably one in five could be relevant so there's a potential (circa) 100 companies you could approach with a summary of what you're offering.
Secondly, don't mention an asking price, simply say "I'm inviting indicative offers by the end of April" (or some such).
I have got a free trial of the site but now cannot see what I should be looking for with apologies for being "Mr Thicky" but is there an obvious search I should be doing?
jo strummer said:
If I were you I'd find companies that are currently, or have recently, acquired recruitment companies.
There is a website you can subscribe to:
www.bvdep.com/
Which contains many databases. The one you're after is "Zephyr". A quick search using the keyword "recruitment" looking at the purchaser in the UK, revealed over 450 hits. Probably one in five could be relevant so there's a potential (circa) 100 companies you could approach with a summary of what you're offering.
Secondly, don't mention an asking price, simply say "I'm inviting indicative offers by the end of April" (or some such).
I have got a free trial of the site but now cannot see what I should be looking for with apologies for being "Mr Thicky" but is there an obvious search I should be doing?
Go into Zephyr, then click on "Text Search" then click on the "Business Description" (yellow box) type in some relevant key words. Click on the "target" box then "ok". Following which click on the tab at the top which says "Complete Records". This will show you the details of the transaction (some of which will be relevant) and, most importantly, who the buyer was. You can then click on the buyer's details and print them off. I reckon it'll be about a day's work for you!
By the way, a year or so ago I sold a recruitment company to a company called "The Hot Group" - they were pretty acquisitive at the time. Although The Hot Group looks assetless, it's actually just an acquisition vehicle - I gather the owner used to own Adecco (or one of the big boys).
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